Inland Waterways In Glastonbury Subject To New Connecticut Trout Regulations

GLASTONBURY, CT — Cold Brook and its tributaries in Glastonbury will be affected by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's new Inland sportfish regulations focused on "conserving wild brook trout.

The Connecticut DEEP announced Wednesday that sportfishing regulations for the Inland District will be updated Jan. 1.

"Most notably, the updated regulations provide additional protections for declining populations of brook trout, the only species of trout native to Connecticut.," DSEEP officials said. "Decades of monitoring by DEEP biologists shows a clear trend of reduced range and abundance of brook trout in the state."

Brook trout require cold water to survive and flourish, meaning that they are particularly susceptible to the impacts of "our warming climate,: DEEP officials said.

Added DEEP commisioner Katie Dykes, "The brook trout is an iconic New England fish that is losing ground here in Connecticut. "DEEP is pleased that our state’s fishing community broadly supported new fishing rules that will provide additional protections for this special fish. We all have a role to play in ensuring that future generations of Connecticut residents and visitors will have access to healthy streams and fish populations.”

The DEEP is designating 22 inland waterways (or portions of them) as Class 1 Wild Trout Management Areas. Wild brook trout populations in these areas now will be protected by year-round catch-and-release-only regulations and a requirement that anglers use only artificial lures or flies with a single barbless hook.

They are:

• Beaver Brook in Barkhamsted
• Belden Brook in Granby
• Bonemill Brook in Tolland and Ellington
• Cold Brook and tributaries in Glastonbury
• Green Falls River in North Stonington
• Gulf Stream and tributaries in Somers
• Hall Meadow Brook in Norfolk
• Thorne Brook and tributaries in Hartland
• Hurricane Brook in Hartland
• Indian Hole Brook in Shelton
• Jericho Brook in Thomaston
• Lowden Brook in Voluntown
• Mohawk Pond Outflow in Goshen
• Morgan Brook in Barkhamsted
• Pease Brook in Bozrah
• Railroad Brook in Vernon
• Sages Ravine Brook in Salisbury
• Spruce Brook and tributaries in Litchfield
• Stony Brook in Montville
• Stratton Brook in Simsbury
• West Branch Salmon Brook and tributaries in Hartland
• Willow Brook and tributaries in Hamden and Cheshire

The DEEP’s new trout regulations will provide enhanced protections for wild brook trout while also simplifying statewide trout fishing regulations, said Pete Aarrestad, the director of the DEEP Fisheries Division.

Elsewhere in the state, Eeffective Jan. 1, only trout 9 inches or longer can be kept in waters open to trout harvest in the state, except where a more restrictive length limit is already in place. There has not been a default statewide minimum length limit for trout since 1953, when it was 6 inches, DEEP officials said.

"The new default 9-inch minimum length limit for trout will be highly protective of wild brook trout in the streams where they are found, as most wild brook trout in Connecticut are less than nine inches in length," DEEP officials said.

The DEEP stocks hatchery-raised brook trout in many waters, and nearly all the fish are greater than 9 inches in length, thus providing opportunities for brook trout harvest.